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A parasitic nematoid worm, espec. the roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, often occurring in the human intestine and allied species found in domestic animals; also commonly applied to the pinworm (Oxyuris), often troublesome to children and aged persons.

A group of Tunicata, often shaped like a two-necked bottle. The group includes, social, and compound species. The gill is a netlike structure within the oral aperture. The integument is usually leathery in texture. See Illustration in Appendix.

To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; - - often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. Judg. xviii. 5. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John xv. 7.…

A small, hooded, poisonous serpent of Egypt and adjacent countries, whose bite is often fatal. It is the Naja haje. The name is also applied to other poisonous serpents, esp. to Vipera aspis of southern Europe. See Haje.

To soften, in a figurative sense; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult; to satisfy, as appetite or desire. Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage. Addison. To assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man Burke. The fount at which the panting mind assu…

Paper impregnated with saltpeter. The fumes from the burning paper are often inhaled as an alleviative by asthmatics.

us to excite awe, nor around us to awaken tenderness. R. Hall. Atheism and pantheism are often wrongly confounded. Shipley.

A suffix forming nouns of action, and often equivalent to the verbal substantive in -ing. It sometimes has the further meanings of state, and that which results from the action. Many of these nouns have verbs in -ate; as, alliterate -ation, narrate -ation; many are derived through the French; as, alteration, visitation…

To soften, mollify, or moderate; to soothe; to temper; as, to attemper rigid justice with clemency.

near at hand, in pursuance of duty; to be ready for service; to wait or be in waiting; -- often followed by on or upon. He was required to attend upon the committee. Clarendon.

Less often, the mass of archoplasm left by the aster in the resting cell.

ts, and perhaps in the Caucasus. It is distinct from the Urus of Cæsar, with which it has often been confused.

The third season of the year, or the season between summer and winter, often called "the fall." Astronomically, it begins in the northern temperate zone at the autumnal equinox, about September 23, and ends at the winter solstice, about December 23; but in popular language, autumn, in America, comprises September, Octo…

See prehensile processes on the cells of some Bryozoa, often having the shape of a bird's bill.

ht who had no standard of his own, but fought under the standard of another in the field; often, a young knight.

throwing dice. Formerly called tables. Backgammon board , a board for playing backgammon, often made in the form of two rectangular trays hinged together, each tray containing two "tables".

he side of a ship, slanting a little aft, to assist the shrouds in supporting the mast. [ Often used in the plural.]

ially in the western United States, where horizontal strata (Tertiary deposits) have been often eroded into fantastic forms, and much intersected by canons, and where lack of wood, water, and forage increases the difficulty of traversing the country, whence the name, first given by the Canadian French, Mauvaises Terres…

To dip or lade water from; -- often with out to express completeness; as, to bail a boat. By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out. R. H. Dana, Jr.

s the beats or pulses of a watch or chronometer, answering to the pendulum of a clock; -- often called simply a balance.